Second Shetland Truck System Report
Chapter 225 : 9239. Was that a written notice?-Yes.9240. Have you got it now?-No, I have lost it.924

9239. Was that a written notice?-Yes.

9240. Have you got it now?-No, I have lost it.

9241. Did you pay the fine?-Yes.

9242. Did you not try to get off with it?-No.

9243. Did you think you were legally bound to pay it?-No; and that was the reason why I would not stay upon his property. If I could have got a 'downsitting' handy that suited me at the time, I would not have paid it, because I did not think it right.

9244. Did you fish for Mr. Robertson after that?-Yes, for two years.

9245. How did you happen to fish for him?-We just made a kind of agreement with him, first for two years; but still we were not satisfied, and as we did not wish to be bound to fish for him, we stopped.

9246. Did anything more pa.s.s between you and Mr. Robertson or Mr. Bell, about leaving the ground or about being bound to fish?- No.

9247. Then how did you come at last to leave Lunna? Did you give them notice that you were going, or did they give you notice to quit?-I was on the look-out after that for some other place, because I was determined, after paying that 1, which I was not due to s.h.i.+ft to a convenient place at the first opportunity.

9248. You got a place at Burravoe; and since then have you been at liberty to fish for any person you pleased?-Yes.

9249. Do you get your supplies at Mr. Adie's store at Skerries?- Yes; our sea stock, and all that we require during the fis.h.i.+ng season

9250. When you are at home, where do you get your supplies?- Sometimes from Lerwick, and sometimes we get something from Mr. Adie when we settle.

9251. Do you bring home supplies with you from Skerries?-No, we never settle at Skerries; we settle at Voe in Mr. Adie's office.

9252. Have you an account at Voe as well as at Skerries?-Yes.

Our Skerries account for the fis.h.i.+ng season is always handed over to Voe, and it is all settled there.

9253. Do you sometimes bring a large supply of provisions home from Voe?-Sometimes, and sometimes not. When we think we can make a better of it, we will send to Lerwick for them.

9254. Have you not to bring them a good bit by land when you get them from Voe?-Yes.

9255. Why do you take the trouble to carry your supplies so far as that?-We have no particular reason for it, only we are there at any rate, and we can get them there as good a bargain as we can get them in Lerwick and nearer us, and it saves us the freight.

9256. How often do you go to Voe in the course the year?-Once a year.

9257. When you go there to settle, are you asked to take some goods home with you?-Not at all, unless we require them ourselves.

9258. Of course you are not obliged to do it unless you like; but don't they ask you whether you want any goods?-Yes, they will do that. Sometimes Mr. Adie's shop people will ask if we are requiring anything.

9259. Is that before you settle or afterwards?-It is generally after we have settled.

9260. Does that supply go into the next year's account?-If we are requiring the cash we have got, either for paying the land-master or any other purpose, they will let the goods stand until next account.

9261. But sometimes you got goods before settlement, and they went into the past year's account if you did not want the cash?- No. Since we fished for Mr. Adie, there were no goods we got at that time which went into the past year's account. They always went into the rising year's account, unless they were paid for in cash.

9262. Sometimes you paid them in cash?-Yes.

9263. And in that case they would not enter any account?-No. I generally pay all my goods with cash, so far as I can.

9264. Do you find them cheaper when they are paid for in that way?-Yes.

9265. And that is what you do generally when you go to Lerwick?-Yes.

9266. Have you generally had a balance to get from Mr. Adie at the end of the year since you fished for him?-Yes, always.

9267. Could you get the same goods that you get at Voe as cheap nearer home, and as good?-I cannot say.

9268. Is there any difference in quality between Mr. Adie's goods and those you get at Burravoe or at Lerwick?-I cannot say that there is. There is often a great difference in the quality of goods, even although they are sold at one price, and as being the same quality.

9269. Where have you found that?-I have bought tea on different occasions at one place, and at the same price, and have found differences in the quality. I don't think that was due so much to the people selling it, as to the chest decaying. I have sometimes found it good and sometimes bad in every place I have had it from.

9270. Do you take goods from Mr. Henderson's shop at Burravoe?-I have had very few goods from him. I never had any meal or tea from him. All I have got has been a few nails or anything I required for my boats.

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Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, ARTHUR ANDERSON, examined.

9271. You are a fisherman at Burravoe, on Mr. M'Queen's property?-I am.

9272. Were you formerly a tenant and fisherman at Lunna?-Yes.

I was not very long a tenant, but I was a fisherman. I left it 7 years ago at Martinmas, at the same time as Johnston.

9273. Had you been bound there to fish for Mr. Robertson?-I did fish for him; but while I was a young man, and unmarried, they could not compel me.

9274. Had you some land there afterwards?-Yes. I had some for two years before I left.

9275. Were you told then that you were bound to fish for Mr.

Robertson?-Yes. The Sheriff told me that at the same time that he told Johnston.

9276. Were you both together at the time?-No.

9277. Had you both been sent for at the same time?-There was a meeting in a place near Lunna, and the whole tenantry were told that they were to be under one control, and to fish for Mr.

Robertson. I think that meeting was held in the schoolroom. I think both Sheriff Bell and Mr. Robertson were present.

9278. Did Mr. Bell tell you that he expected you all to fish for Mr.

Robertson?-Yes.

9279. What else did he say?-I was not very old then, and I don't remember.

9280. Why did you leave Lunna?-I was in a double family, and I thought the place I was in was too small for the whole of us; therefore I thought I would try to look out for some place in which to live.

9281. You did not leave it because you wanted your freedom?- Not altogether.

9282. Had you been fined for selling your fish anywhere else?- No.

9283. Do you know any other man in Lunna who was fined for that except Johnston?-I don't remember of any.